


Captivating

by Thewinterboobear



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Brainwashing, I'm so excited for this, It's kind of turning into a robot learns how to love story, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Sam as Captain America, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, i don't even know what's going on because it keeps getting away from my usual plan, shrinky clinks, shrinkyclinks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2015-12-06
Packaged: 2018-04-18 03:58:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4691192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thewinterboobear/pseuds/Thewinterboobear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve Rogers is the easiest bait to get to Sam Wilson, better known as Captain America. He's left in a room with a certain assassin who's getting ready to take Cap out for good.</p><p>Hydra may learn that plans don't always come together as expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Captured

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first chapter story I've posted. It will be updated every Sunday if not more frequently. All errors are my fault and feel free to comment if something's wrong. I'll fix it. Enjoy!
> 
> http://thewinterboobear.tumblr.com

Steve Rogers jolted forward as the door to his cell slammed open. He wasn’t even sure on the details of how he’d gotten here anymore. Four days ago he was drinking coffee with Sam, Captain freaking America, and talking about moving back to New York City. Four nights ago and he was ripped from his sleep by men in all black dragging him out of his bed and out of the window.

Between the head trauma and the lack of food over the last few days, Steve was in no shape to fight the man standing in the doorway in front of him. Weighing in at over two hundred pounds of muscle, Brock Rumlow was not a man to be messed with under any circumstances. It was worse when you’re 120 pounds and prone to asthma attacks. Still, Steve stood and raised his fists as best as he could. He knew it wasn’t intimidating. Hell, even at his peak health he wasn’t very intimidating. It still didn’t mean he was going to let this guy push him around.

The man barked out a laugh and pulled a pair of handcuffs out from his back pocket. Well, Steve thought, at least they were just taking him somewhere. After a pitiful scuffle his hands were behind his back and he was being half-dragged down an empty corridor. The walls were steel and uninviting, and there were no windows to indicate exactly where he was. At the end of the wall there was a large insignia that at least told him who his captors were. It was a large black octopus in a circle. Hydra.

“Where are you taking me?” His voice was rough from disuse and dehydration and it took the other man a moment to decipher what he said.

“We’re delivering you to a friend of ours. Head boss said the boy needed a gift and handpicked you. At least, that’s where you’ll be going for now until we need you to reel in Captain America.”

Steve tried to dig his feet into the ground but it was useless. The larger man could drag him across the floor if need be. “You’re not using me as bait for S- for Captain America.”

“I don’t think you’re really the one to make that call.”

Brock rounded another corner, Steve in tow, and came upon a large door similar to one for a bank vault. Two men stood guard in full combat wear. One of them smoothly moved to the side so that Rumlow could enter a fifteen digit code. Steve tried to remember what the larger man was typing in but it was too long and his head was still spinning. When he finished Steve heard a noise that sounded like an air pressure release. The two men stepped between them and the door in order to open it.

Steve faced forward as Brock moved behind him to shove him in. He heard the door close behind him but nothing of the locking mechanism. Steve was confused to find that the room looked almost like a nearly empty studio apartment. There was a book shelf at one end whose titles appeared to be in many different languages. Next to that was a door Steve assumed led to the bathroom. At the other there was counter covered with a small oven and a blender with some cabinets above them. Directly in front of Steve was an older uncomfortable looking couch. Steve turned his head right and saw a queen sized bed with perfectly placed sheets. In the corner with the bed stood a man and Steve’s heart stopped beating for a second. He gasped and tried to push backwards into Brock who kept holding him at arm’s length. Steve had heard of this man before, even seen pictures. Sam said he fought him once but, other than a select few who knew about that particular incident, no one believed he was real.

“Asset, come forward.” 

The man moved towards the center of the room but his bewildered eyes never left Steve. 

“What mission is this?”

His voice was low and scratchy like he wasn’t used to talking. His movements were cat like and gave off a calculated ease. His arms swayed slightly as he moved, the metal one reflecting the light from above the kitchenette area. His dark brown hair fell in his face which looked confused and also afraid. This only made Steve more nervous. He looked like a caged animal.

“No mission. Not yet anyway. We brought you a little friend. Even pets need pets.”

Steve felt himself fall forward as Brock finally released him. The handcuffs were no longer on his wrists and he realized he must have been so terrified he didn’t feel them loosen. The other man tilted his head as Steve’s eyes shot up to meet his.

“What do I do with it?” The long haired man asked. His eyes squinted in scrutiny and it made Steve shiver in fear.

“Whatever you want. You’ve got a big job coming up. Keep him alive but use him to relieve whatever stress you may need.” Brock gave them a dark smile and backed away. After the door closed again behind him, Steve heard the security measures clicking back into place.

Steve never let his eyes leave the man in front of him and he was looked at with confusion in kind.

“Who are you?” The taller man asked. Steve found it in him to stand up and he squared his shoulders even as the dizziness kicked back in. He was going to have to find a way to eat again soon and the kitchenette to his left was tempting. 

“Steve. Rogers. Who are you?” 

Steve figured that playing dumb would be his best bet. Acknowledging that he knew who the Winter Soldier was seemed like a dangerous tactic. The man was more myth and legend than human and maybe hearing that some random kid with ties to Sam Wilson himself knew who he was would trigger some sort of rage in him.

“They call me the Asset,” he responded. His weight shifted and he moved over to the bookshelf. He didn’t look at any of the books though and seemed wary to take his eyes off Steve. “Why are you here?”

“I don’t know. Why do they call you Asset?”

“I don’t know.”

Steve wasn’t sure what was going on here. Sure, Winter Soldier could easily be a CIA or SHIELD code name that HYDRA wasn’t fully aware of, but calling him something like Asset seemed degrading. At least Winter Soldier was a believable code name like Captain America or Black Widow, but Asset seemed more like an item or a tool.

“How do you not know why they call you that? Why don’t you go by your own name then?” Steve felt braver when he saw how wary the other man seemed. He wasn’t sure what was causing this but it made Steve feel a little braver.

“That is my name.” He said it with a certainty and a stiffness of the jaw that caused Steve to back up a step. “Why do they call you Steve?”

“Well, that’s what my mom named me.” Steve allowed his pose to relax. He no longer felt immediately threatened and he knew an assassin as high skilled as Winter Soldier would easily be able to read that.

The taller man lowered his gaze before shooting his eyes to the clock on the wall. It read six thirty and the soldier turned to go to the small fridge.

“It is time to eat.” He said it mechanically, almost as if it wasn’t directed towards Steve. The relief that flooded him almost pushed out the weird vibe it gave off. 

Steve inched towards him as he opened up the fridge. Inside of it were pre-packaged meals. The soldier shot him a look and his face twisted in annoyance. He pulled out two meals and began ripping them open. Steve was surprised at how plain the food looked. There was chicken partitioned away from broccoli and mashed potatoes. He placed the food in a small oven that began heating them after the push of a button.

“Do you know why I’m here?” Steve didn’t think that he could stand waiting for the food to cook and decided a conversation was necessary distraction. He doubted this man knew much about the situation considering the surprise on his face when he entered.

“No. You are not to be killed so I don’t know what they want me to do with you.”

Steve shuddered a little. He felt on edge once again. He reminded himself the man next to him was responsible for countless deaths.

“You are afraid, but I said I would not kill you. Do you think future harm will come your way?” The taller man’s tone gave no indication of any emotions. His voice barely raised at the end of the sentence to indicate it was a question.

Steve tried to shrug but his muscles were wound up so tight that they barely budged. “It sure is starting to seem like it. No one’s told me anything.”

“Hydra does not tell more than it needs to.” Steve thought he sounded like he was repeating something he had been told instead of spitting out facts.

The oven made a beeping noise and the soldier moved over to it. He pulled out two plastic forks from a drawer below and moved to grab the trays from the oven. He turned back to the table and sat across from Steve. He put the trays down in front of both of them and Steve was gorging himself in seconds.

When Steve was halfway done he finally found it in himself to slow down. He had to remind himself that he’d get sick if he kept up that pace and the meals in the fridge looked specifically rationed out. Steve let his eyes glance up and he nearly snorted out some mashed potatoes. The Winter Soldier, who up until then only showed expressions of trepidation and blankness, was staring with his mouth and eyes wide open and a fork full of broccoli hanging limply from his hand.

“Sorry,” Steve offered. It was true. This man was the first to feed him since he was captured. Steve wasn’t even sure if he had enough food to feed him. 

The rest of the meal passed in silence before Asset cleaned off the table. “If you need to use the rest room just go through that door.”

Steve noticed that he pulled open a lower cabinet door and deposited the supplies into a trash can. He then noticed that there was no sink in the room. As he made his way over to the counter he noticed that the oven and blender only had one button each. He eyed the shelves above him curiously.

“What are you doing?”

Steve jumped and whipped around. “Just… I’m thirsty.”

The other man gave him a glare to let him know he was aware he was lying, but he came over to help anyway. He opened the middle cabinet and pulled out two water bottles. Steve noted that there were countless water bottles in the cabinet but no other drinks of any variety. 

While Steve drank, the soldier opened another cabinet and started pulling out vitamins. Steve’s eyes widened at the contents. The vitamins were in neat matching bottles that gave their name and purpose. Also on the shelf stood large containers of protein shake mix. They were flavorless ones and Steve imagined they couldn’t taste good. 

“So, who does your grocery shopping?” Steve tried to keep his tone casual even though he was bursting with curiosity. 

“Grocery shopping?” The taller man gave him a confused look. 

“Who brings you food?” Steve tries again. He mentally filed ‘not understanding grocery shopping’ for later use.

“My handler.” 

Steve stared at him as the soldier moved towards the bookshelf. “Your handler? What does that even mean?”

“He is the one who feeds me. He’s also the one who lets me out.”

Steve wanted to slap himself in the face. Of course. With his exhaustion and starvation he didn’t realize that the locks weren’t just to keep him in. They were to keep the other man in, too.

Steve felt like he was going to get sick. He swallowed down because he was sure this man had nothing extra to spare. 

“I’m going to use the bathroom. I assume you have a shower.”

The other man nodded his assent. “There are towels in the closet. When you are done put them in the chute.”

Steve closed the bathroom door and felt himself starting to hyperventilate. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. Whatever was going on here wasn’t what he thought it was. He’d always heard the Soldier was some evil assassin, which still rang at least partly true, but a high ranking member of Hydra. His kill record alone should have gotten him into the highest of graces. So the question begged to ask: why was he being treated like a slave?

Steve shucked off his clothes. He was really starting to realize how gross he smelled. He had no idea how the other man could stand eating across from him.

‘Because he knows what death smelled like,’ a small voice in the back of his mind spoke up. He shuddered and turned the water on.

He let his mind go numb until it was time to step out. He pulled open a small closet and was surprised to find about fifty towels lined up. He grabbed one and quickly dried off. He grabbed his clothes again and wrinkled his nose. He hadn’t noticed how bad they were beginning to smell and how gross they felt against his skin. He pulled them back on anyway and threw the towel down a hole in the wall that, regretfully, was smaller than his already skinny waist.

He stepped out into the living room and noticed that the couch had been set up with a sheet and pillows. He looked over to the bed where the soldier was reading a book in a language that Steve thought looked like Russian. When Steve looked again his mouth fell open in realization.

“You can’t give me all your bedding.” Steve crossed his arms and gave the other man a glare. Asset looked up and cocked an eyebrow. It was the first sign of personality Steve had seen. 

“I don’t require it.” Steve felt his eyes roll before he could catch himself. 

“Neither do I. I at least have an arm rest.” Bucky shrugged and turned his eyes back to the book. Steve gnawed at his lower lip before darting back in the bathroom. Less than ten seconds later, Steve emerged with three towels that he tried to set up next to the other man’s head.

As soon as realization hit Winter Soldier shot up on the bed with eyes wide. Steve stepped back with the last towel he was going to lay down. He clutched it to himself as if it would somehow defend him from whatever blows that metal arm could deliver.

“We have to put this back,” the taller man said frantically. His eyes were wide and shooting around the room as if someone was going to pop out from behind a table and yell at him. “This is not its intended usage. Not using it for its purpose wastes resources. We have to put them back right now.”

Steve nodded and grabbed at the other towels. The switch between singular and plural was not lost on him. He felt safe to assume that this man had been yelled at for something like this before.

Steve walked back to the bathroom and placed the towels back as neatly as the rest of them. He closed the door and turned his head to look above the sink. No mirror, of course. 

Steve gave a quick breath and turned to head back to the living room where the other man was still sitting ramrod straight on the edge of his bed. His eyes were fixated on the door.

“Are we being watched?” Steve suddenly got nervous. Rumlow’s tone from earlier implied that the Soldier was to do… something to him. Something awful.

“No, I sweep my room every time I come back for bugs, but… he knows.” 

Steve cocked his head. “Who? Rumlow?”

“No, my handler.” Bucky shivered.

“Look, I don’t think they’re going to find out about this. If they do, they’d punish me, okay?” Steve tried to ignore the visible flinch the other man gave at the word ‘punishment.’  
“It is time for my shower. After that we sleep. Watch the door.” 

Even though it was a command, Winter Soldier’s tone made it seem more like a request so Steve nodded. 

While he was in the bathroom, Steve allowed himself to stroll over to the bookshelf. Most of these books were written in languages he couldn’t even place. There were a few in English. Steve’s eyebrows furrowed as he read the titles. ‘The Jungle Book’ was placed just below ‘Lassie, Come Home’ on the shelves. At the very top left corner was a worn hardback copy of ‘Black Beauty.’ Steve wished he could figure out what the other books were and he was tempted to guess based on the covers. He didn’t want to disturb the man’s system, however, so he let his curiosity pass. He laid down on the couch and pondered over why such a dangerous man’s only books written in English were children’s books. 

Within minutes the Asset left the bathroom with a towel around his waist. He froze and looked at his guest with a sigh, as if he’d forgotten he was there. He walked over to the bed and pulled out two pairs of sweat pants and two shirts from a drawer located beneath it. He unceremoniously dropped a pair on top of Steve as he passed.  
He changed quickly. When The Winter Soldier exited the bathroom he went straight to the bed and curled up without saying a word. Steve started to lay back down when the lights went off. 

He laid there uncomfortably. No one had touched anything so the only answer was that even the lights were timed. It seemed everything the other man did was on a timer.

He turned and faced the back of the couch but he didn’t think he’d be getting any sleep that night.


	2. deprivation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first night with Winter Soldier and Steve Rogers doesn't go great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I already broke my 'update every Sunday' rule with this one and it's shorter than I'd liked but I was in Virginia on vacation and the wifi was awful. I'll try and make it up by posting an extra update this week. Enjoy! As always, it's not coedited so if something seems wrong just send me a message.

****

Approx. 1:00 A.M

Steve felt his body jolt awake. He was disoriented and confused. This wasn’t his bed. This wasn’t Sam’s couch. He didn’t know where he was. He rubbed his eyes to try to get them to adjust to the darkness. 

He heard a rustling noise again followed by growling and grunting. Steve’s eyes shot open and he whipped his head over to the source of the noise. 

There was a scream and he saw the shape of a man shoot up in the bed by the wall. His breathing was ragged and forced and suddenly the memory of the past day came flooding back to Steve. He stood up without thinking about it. He made his way over to the other man and sat cautiously on the edge of his bed. Steve put a hand on his shoulder which caused him to jerk away.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s me. Relax.”

The man continued to inch closer to the wall. Steve could feel the sweat that soaked through the sheets where he was sleeping. Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. He was not expecting anything like this.

“Where are you?” 

The man stopped shaking and looked around. “Berlin.”

“Nope, we’re at your home.”

“No, it’s too warm for my home.”

Steve tried to think of something. His mind was coming up blank. 

“Do you remember Steve?” 

The man next to him grew quiet. “He lives with me now.”

“Yeah.” Steve decided arguing details wasn’t worth the effort. The edges of sleep were starting to creep back up on him. “It’s me. It’s Steve.”

He could tell the figure in the darkness hadn’t budged an inch. Steve tentatively reached out his hand again. This time, when it made contact with his shoulder, Asset did not pull away. He still held a cowering pose but he didn’t curl further into the wall. His breathing was still loud and ragged but his shaking had lowered significantly. Steve lowered his hand to the wrist of the soldier’s flesh arm. He pulled it over to his own chest and placed it on his sternum.

“Hey, do me a favor. Breath with me.” Steve pulled a breath in and held it for one second. Slowly he pushed the breath out. He repeated the action and he could see the shadow of the man’s shoulders mimicking the same pattern. Soon his breathing was more level.

Steve put his hand back down and let the other man’s drop to the bed. “What were you dreaming about?”

Winter Soldier was quiet for so long that he thought he wasn’t going to speak. “Berlin. Restaurant. Greek food. I wasn’t allowed any. I just had to do a job.”

Steve lowered his eyes. He could start to see his hands taking shape. Now that the stress was down he realized just how much his eyes had adjusted to the dark. He breathed in and out once, listening as the air left his body. This sounded less like a nightmare and more like a memory.

“But you’re not in Germany now. We’re in The United States. We’re at a Hydra base. You’re in your bed.” 

The other man swallowed and even in the dark he could tell he was making eye contact with him. Steve tried to meet it but found it difficult after his revelation.

“Go back to sleep,” Asset said. “It is not time to wake up. When this happens we just go back to sleep.”

Steve nodded and stood up. “Does this happen often?”

“Only when I’m allowed to wake up,” he answered and Steve did not press the issue.

Steve went over to the couch and plopped back down. He pulled the blanket over himself and this time faced the bed. 

“Goodnight,” he said. He realized it was quite a ridiculous thing to say in this situation but he wasn’t sure what else to do. The other man responded with a grunt and soon sleep overcame him again.

****

Approx. 3:45 A.M

Steve felt himself being ripped out of a dream. It was a nice dream. Sam was there and Natasha and Clint. They were in Central Park at noon having a picnic. Aliens began pouring out of the sky when the other three sprang into action. Steve looked down next to him and realized Sam forgot his shield. He grabbed it and realized his arms were much larger and more muscular. He pulled back and flung it like a Frisbee. Three bad guys were taken out before it ricocheted back to him. He pulled back to swing again when suddenly his chest was getting tight. He couldn’t find the power to throw it and soon the world was distorting and melting away. He didn’t even have time to call his friends for back up.

Steve’s eyes shot open and he realized he was sitting up. His hands reached around for his inhaler when he remembered he wasn’t home. He couldn’t see a thing and he didn’t know how to get something to drink. His vision was getting blurry again when he felt a hand on his. It pulled his hand to the owner’s chest.

“Breathe with me,” a voice said. Steve tried to focus on matching his breath but his mind was racing all over the place. He was in danger. He didn’t have his medicine. He couldn’t find water. He was going to die in this room.

“In,” the voice repeated. This time Steve focused on complying. “Out.” 

Steve felt the clamp on his lungs loosen but he still didn’t feel safe. “Water?”

He could tell how bad of shape he was in by how rough his voice came out. The hand left his and he heard the man walk over to the kitchenette. Soon a bottle of water was being shoved in his hand. He drank what he could and continued to listen to his breathing until it lost its edge. He suddenly became aware of a weight next to his legs on the couch.

“Nightmare?”

That’s right. He was captured with Winter Soldier. This was his normal.

“No, I used to get sick a lot when I was younger. Asthma. They didn’t remember to grab my inhaler when they kidnapped me.”

He thought he could see the other man nodding. “Does this happen a lot?”

“No.” He took another drink of water. His voice was coming back but with all the forced breathing his throat had dried out pretty well. “Not anymore, anyway. Usually if I’ve been running or doing something stressful. Did I mention the kidnapping?”

Asset made a noise that Steve took as the closest thing he could muster to a laugh. “Are you well again?”

“Yeah.” Steve knew it wasn’t entirely true but he was breathing which was a great improvement over five minutes ago.

“Good. We must go back to sleep now. It is not time to wake up.” He felt the weight shift off the couch followed by the sound of bare feet making their way to the bed on the other side of the room.

Steve let his head hit the pillow and within seconds he saw nothing but blackness as sleep took over again.

****

Approx 6:30 A.M 

Steve forced one eye open. The room was once again lit up. He didn’t know how long the light had been on but his brain was working its fuzzy way around to thought processing. He opened the other one and turned his body to face the bed across the room. It was empty.

Steve groaned when he remembered there was no coffee anywhere. He was captured. Prisoners usually don’t get coffee. Steve sat up and cleared the gunk from his eyes. He turned his head to try and see if Winter Soldier was still in the room. Suddenly, his head jolted back toward the bed. Next to it was an open pathway that Steve knew wasn’t there before. He figured it must be some sort of secret passageway.

Steve flung his legs over the edge of the couch. He stood on wobbly legs before his body decided to wake up with him. He slowly inched his way towards the open passageway. He hadn’t NOT been given permission, so what was the harm? The hallway was lit by overhead lights similar to the ones in the living area. Steve inched his way in. At the other end of the hallway there was another doorway that led to what looked like a large personal gym. 

Steve inched his way over as he heard the sound of flesh and metal smashing what he assumed to be a punching bag. Steve peered around the corner to see The Asset in the middle of the room. He had multiple punching bags in a cluster formation around him. He made his way to each one with such grace that Steve barely saw him hit the floor. Steve held his breath as he watched his movements. They were fluid. His body was shooting on instinct rather than thought. His metal arm acted as if he was born with it.

Steve tore his eyes away to look at the wall on his left. His stomach dropped. He was so entranced by the Soldier’s training he forgot what he was training for. On the wall were photos of Sam, both in and out of his Captain America uniform. He saw pictures of him laughing with Clint as well as ones with him having dinner with Rhodey. Mixed in the middle was a photo with him and Steve walking around Brooklyn. Steve didn’t think the Asset even realized he was one of the photos.

Steve realized he must have audibly gasped when he noticed there was no more punching noises. He whipped around to face Winter Soldier, who was staring at him from ten feet away. He didn’t look angry or like he was happy Steve saw the wall. Instead, he looked concerned, like a kid caught with his hand in a cookie jar. Steve knew his mouth was still hanging open and he knew he wouldn’t win one-on-one with this guy. 

“I don’t think you’re supposed to be in here,” the Soldier spoke. Steve squared his shoulders and glared at him, finally regaining his composure.

“I don’t think you should be going after my friend here,” Steve said, pointing over his shoulder. 

The taller man looked over Steve’s shoulder and his eyes widened, as if he hadn’t realized the collage of pictures were even there. “Who is that man?” 

Steve felt his jaw drop before he could control himself. “Sam Wilson. Captain America. I know you’ve fought him before. He told me so.”

The man nodded. “I do not remember this. He must be my next target.”

“How… How would you not remember?” Steve couldn’t wrap his mind around it. 

“It is not vital for me to remember such things. Hydra demands order. They know how it would be best for me to follow that order.” 

Steve couldn’t wrap his head around it. How did he not remember fighting Captain freaking America? Everyone would remember that. Steve tilted his head. It was his ‘confused puppy look’ according to his dear friend Peggy.

“What do you remember?”

Winter Soldier pushed his lips forward into a small pout. “I remember you.”

Steve couldn’t help but scoff. Okay, so after seeing the reminder of what exactly this man’s mission was his concern for his own preservation had gone down a little. Still, what was this guy getting at? Steve couldn’t tell if he was really good at lying or what but there’s no way this guy doesn’t remember anything. He’d met Steve yesterday and he’s acting like he doesn’t know anything else. Steve didn’t know what his aim was, but he didn’t know what to think about anything anymore.

“You know what,” Steve said, sitting down below the collage. “I’m just going to give up for right now. I can’t handle this.”

Steve had heard of people wanting to bang their head into a wall but until this very moment he had no such inclination. This was more than he could handle. He didn’t even have a way to call Sam or Nat and complain about how weird and shitty his life had become. Seriously, what was even going on?

“Look, can you give up on the couch? I really don’t know if you’re supposed to be in here.”

That’s when Steve started giggling. It didn’t quite hit him that he was having some sort of nervous breakdown until it turned into full on gut wrenching laughter. He fell to his side, curled into a fetal position, and continued giggling with tears filling his eyes.

Steven Grant Rogers, the kid who grew up pretty normal despite a few health issues, was being held captive by an organization all because a few months ago he befriended Captain America all because a few months before that he ran into an old friend from high school who had become internationally known as Black Widow. Now he was trapped in a room with a man who didn’t even remember remembering anything besides the events of the last 13 hours and had nightmares in the middle of the night. Oh, and this guy also was an internationally known assassin who apparently thought his name was Asset.

His life couldn’t be any more un-fucking-believable.

Steve finally regained his composure when he started to feel another asthma attack coming on. He stood up and dusted himself off, which was mostly for show since the room was sterile, and looked up. Winter Soldier looked terrified of this tiny person who was forced into his room, took his blankets, yelled at him, and now was laughing on the floor of a room he wasn’t even sure the dude was supposed to be in. Also, his bookshelf was filled with children’s books in varying languages.

Steve turned and walked to the living while falling into another fit of giggles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to send me an ask or something you can find me on tumblr: thewinterboobear.tumblr.com


	3. Assault

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish there was a good excuse as to why this took forever. Basically work sucks and my life has gone straight to hell in a handbasket. On the bright side, now I'm dealing with that so I should be back to regular posting. Again I'm so sososososoooooooo sorry.

Steve felt his shoulders being shaken as he fought to stay asleep. He groaned and pulled the pillow out to swat at the offending hand. Before it even made contact, he felt a tight grip and it was ripped out of his hands.

Steve’s eyes shot open and he jolted to look over at Winter Soldier who had a dangerous expression on his face. Oh, that’s right. He had gone back to bed because, after his little episode in the gym, he realized he hadn’t actually gotten that much sleep. That meant that he was still in the Hydra stronghold and the man he just tried to assault wasn’t his friend Sam or Nat stopping by. No, that man was a terrifying assassin. One he just tried to hit with a pillow.

Steve’s mouth floundered open and closed as he tried to come out with an explanation. 

“Look, I didn’t mean to try and hit you,” Steve started but the man cut him off with a wave of his hand. He still looked at him warily but dropped the pillow in his lap anyway. 

“It is time for breakfast. It is eight o’ clock.”

Steve nodded and stood up to follow him over to the kitchenette. The taller man pulled down two bottles of water from one cabinet. He opened another and pulled out the protein powder. Steve crinkled his nose in disgust. 

“This… this is what you have for breakfast?”

The Asset turned and gave him a wary eye. “What else would we consume?”

“I don’t know. Eggs and bacon? Maybe some toast or hash browns?”

Winter Soldier gave him a confused look. “Eggs… those sound familiar. What are eggs?”

Steve couldn’t help the horrified look that crossed his face. “Surely you know what eggs are. Little oval things? You break them and cook them? My mom used to put ketchup on hers.”

The other man continued to look contemplative before a flash of recognition crossed his face. It was quickly hidden again and the man stared at Steve, alarmed. 

“You’re not going to take this away from me, are you?”

Steve reached over for the water bottle mixture. He grabbed it and replaced the lid. While he was shaking he tried to process the question. “Take what away from you?”

“I didn’t mean to remember eggs.” He simply stared down at his own protein drink that he barely mixed. He ripped off the lid and started drinking from it. Steve gagged a little on his own drink as he saw the taller man swallow down chunks of powder that barely mixed with the water. He barely seemed to notice.

“I’m not mad at you for remembering eggs,” Steve tried. He slowly inched his arm over to pat the metal one in a comforting manner. A metallic thump and the sound of hydraulics of the door to the hallway unlatching ruined the moment.

Both pairs of eyes shot to the doorway as Brock Rumlow and an older man entered the room. Steve gasped as he recognized the man in the suit. 

“Mr. Pierce. How did you find me? Did Sam send you?” Steve felt himself babbling but he didn’t run over to the other man. He’d known him for as long as he’d become reacquainted with Natasha. He was very high up with S.H.I.E.L.D. and Steve came to trust the man. He’d seemed genuinely interested in his work and talked about having him paint an Avengers mural. This time something seemed off. His easy smile and calm demeanor seemed to verge into threatening and the fact that Crossbones didn’t seemed bothered one bit by his presence shook Steve.

“Mr. Rogers, how are you? It’s been a few days since I’d last seen you. We were supposed to have a meeting yesterday. I’m so sorry that you never made it.”

Steve squared up his shoulders and felt his tunnel vision he seemed to gain in fights kick in. Steve heard a small snarl before his brain registered that his lip was curled. This man was supposed to be a trusted government official. Nick Fury even seemed to believe in him and, aside from the Avengers, the man never believed in anyone. 

Steve felt a metal hand curl over his raised fist. He whipped his head over to see a pair of blue eyes staring back. They looked startled and a little bit amused. From the doorway he could hear Rumlow chuckling, though Steve didn’t see what was so funny.

“Now, now, I’m not here for you yet,” Pierce started. “Asset, we have a small mission we need completed. One man. No bodies.”

Winter Soldier nodded and started to follow the two out the door when Steve felt himself ready to spring into action. He bolted towards Pierce with fists ready. He stopped just before the cluster of men who were looking on with amusement written on their faces.

“Look, what is going on here? Are you with Hydra? I thought you were one of the good guys.” Steve could hear how loud his voice was. He had no idea how many more men were in the hallways just outside but he knew they’d hear him too.

“Oh, but I am my boy,” Pierce said. His soothing tone froze Steve’s blood. “Your friend Nick? He’s the bad guy. He thinks that thawing out superheroes like Captain America and letting Iron Man and War Machine continue on with their privatized weapons building is going to save this country. All that is doing is creating a small group of people to run this country. No human could resist so much power. Do you think Black Widow is going to use it just for good? That’s a lot of faith in, what, ten people? Even if Fury could keep them on a leash he’s the only one they’ll listen too.”

Steve took his eyes off Pierce and focused them on Winter Soldier. He searched his face for any kind of recognition that what he was saying was wrong. Hell, with the blank expression he wore, Steve started to hope for him to agree.

He knew that, in a warped way, Pierce had a point. His point, however, relied heavily on the fact that these people would turn against their country. This simply wasn’t true. 

“So you think Hydra’s any better?” Steve couldn’t keep the venom from his voice.

Pierce barked out a laugh. “Of course. Hydra demands order. It doesn’t rely on hoping some renegades will keep the planet safe instead of destroying it. Hydra is built like a hierarchy or a government. We’re not ten powerhouses going up against the world. We’re real people with ordinary lives and-“

“I wouldn’t call this an ordinary life,” Steve started, gesturing to the room around him. “You’ve got your own super soldier locked up in a room. There’s a certain number of towels and they can’t be used for any other purpose. There’s no flavor to the food. The books look carefully chosen. How can you possibly think this Orwellian setup is any better than the government we already have? 

“The Avengers aren’t a government. They’re a taskforce to defend against people who try to harm this country and this planet. They exist because of people like you.”

“And tell me, Mr. Rogers, why you think he won’t turn it on your own government?”

Steve felt his blood boil. How do you explain to someone like this just how wrong they were? He wasn’t going to listen. He was beyond repair. The man was so sure that forcing themselves in power by hiring an assassin was the best way to go about something like this. 

“So what are you going to do with me?”

Pierce gives him an annoyed look and a sigh. “I’m going to leave you here for now, but don’t think I will forget this insolence.”

Steve noticed Winter Soldier go rigid at that. The men all exited the room, leaving Steve alone with the whirring sound of the closing door.

Steve walked over to the couch and sat down. He sighed and rubbed his hands over his eyes. There had to be some way to let Sam or Natasha or anyone know what was going on. He looked around himself and took in the room. There was no paper sitting around anywhere and he felt pretty sure there were no pens or pencils. He wasn’t even sure if the Soldier could write at this point. 

Steve made his way into the bathroom and looked down the clothing shoot again. Pushing his head inside, he felt his shoulders bang into the circular edges. A groan escaped his lips before he clamped his mouth shut. He didn’t know if anyone would be at the other end listening and waiting. 

He turned around and headed back towards the living area. His eyes went over to the piece of wall where the door mysteriously appeared that morning. Steve made his way over and eyed it. There didn’t seem to be any hidden panels or secret passcode slots. He couldn’t even make out the outline of the door.

Steve sighed and walked over to the bookshelf. Maybe he dreamed up the whole thing. With all the insanity going on he could believe it. At this point, hallucination was a perfectly believable effect of the stress. 

Steve turned his head and read through the titles of the books. A few of them were in English and surely some of them were readable. While his eyes glided over the titles he noticed something odd in the back of the second row on the bookshelf. There seemed to be a small indent in the wood and the outline of a cover. Steve reached his hand up and pushed on it. Suddenly, the wall behind him slid open again revealing the hallway to the room he’d been in earlier with the Soldier.

Steve sighed and headed over to the room. Finally, maybe something would go right. As the light flickered on he became aware of just how empty this place was. There wasn’t much aside from the workout equipment and mats that he saw earlier. He turned back to face the offending wall of Sam related danger when he noticed something seemed… off. 

Steve squinted his eyes and tried to put his finger on it. He examines the pictures. There’s one of Sam walking out of Stark tower with a coffee. He thinks he remembers that one from earlier. The one next to it is him and Black Widow during the Battle of New York. That one looks familiar too. Suddenly Steve’s eyebrows shoot up. He notices a small empty space where a picture was earlier. It was a picture with him in it. Steve looked down at the floor to try and find it but the place was immaculately clean. It didn’t seem to have fallen anywhere. It would have had to have been taken down.

Steve exited and pushed the book back to close the door behind him. He sat down on the edge of his makeshift bed. His head started spinning and his stomach was turning. Was Winter Soldier hoping he hadn’t seen it? He became quite aware that Hydra had been following him thanks to that. It wasn’t a surprise they managed to figure out where he lived. 

Steve leaned back and focused on his breathing. He was getting worked up again. It felt like there was no way he could escape this. At least not now. He stood up and walked over to the bookshelf again. He grabbed the worn copy of Black Beauty and curled up in the blankets. He opened the first page and began reading.

It must have been hours later, as Steve was over half way through the book, when he heard voices outside the door. They must have been screaming, he thought, as he hadn’t heard anyone before. The doors whirred open and the voice suddenly became very clear. Pierce entered the room nearly screaming. His face was red and his eyebrows where lowered. Steve tried not to make eye contact. He’d never known the man to yell.

Asset was being dragged behind him by Rumlow, who looked less than pleased to be there. He had his head lowered and his how body language screamed submission. Whatever happened out there, it was bad.

“I told you I needed no bodies. Do you know how many people you took out? Do you realize how many questions are going to be asked?”

“Sir, with all due respect-“ 

“I don’t want to hear it, Brock.” Steve allowed his eyes to focus on Alexander again. His voice had regained its cold composure at a rate that alarmed Steve. His face was turning back to his normal color but his eyes still had a fiery anger to them. “I don’t care about how it wasn’t your fault. I’ll deal with you later. I just need someone to pay for my timelines being pushed up even further.”

Steve swore he heard a whimper from the Soldier. He looked over to see him kneeling on the ground, his long hair covering his face. He still had some sort of red goggles on that Steve remembered from the fight with Sam, but there was gunshot damage in the corner. 

Pierce moved closer and grabbed a handful of his hair, ripping his head up. He looked terrified while the other man seemed to regain all of his composure in this situation. 

“Now, do you want to explain to me what happened?”

“There were more guards than you said-“ 

Steve heard the slap before he realized Pierce had even moved. “Are you trying to say this is somehow my fault? Last time I checked, you were a trained to assess such threats. Is your sleep messing you up? Do we need to start trying some new experimental methods?”

“No.” The words came out gruff and low. Bucky seemed calmer to Steve somehow. This must be the Pierce he was used to.

“Now, we’re going to have to teach you a lesson for this. I don’t have time to wipe you and start over. I’m not going to damage you either, it’s too important that you keep well for this next mission. It’s a big one.”

The next thing he knew Pierce had his eyes directly on Steve. He shot into a standing position and put the book down on the couch. His heart was pounding but he tried to keep a brave face. From his peripheral he saw Asset’s firm expression and sad eyes and Rumlow’s smirk.

Pierce strutted over and grabbed at Steve’s shirt. Steve’s hands shot up to grab hold of his wrist but he just clenched tighter. Steve shot him a deadly glare, rage showing all over his face. Pierce just smirked and shifted his weight, throwing Steve backwards onto the ground. Steve heard a commotion from the other side of the room but he was quickly brought back when he saw Pierce pull a stun baton that Steve had seen Natasha use before from behind his back. It glowed bright even in the lighted apartment. Steve barely had time to try to get away before it came crashing into his ribs. The shock from the device was somehow worse than the blow itself. Steve was starting to realize that this man was stronger than he looked.

Steve tried to shove back the tears that were stinging his eyes while he heard yelling from the other side of the room. Another blow hit his head, this time without any electricity. Steve felt the room shift and nausea soon overcame him. His head began pounding as he tried to regain memory of which direction was up. There was a conversation going on above him but he could barely make out the words. It seemed the soldier was pleading with Pierce to stop and Pierce had regained his cool, cruel tone.

Steve felt one final blow on his back, no shock, and he plummeted to the ground. He heard voices now but they were lower and away from him. Steve was afraid to move for fear of retching but he still pushed himself up. After making his way to his hands and knees, which took a few minutes, he felt a hand on his back.

“Shh,” a voice broke through. “Stop. Struggling won’t help you now.”

Steve felt his body collapse and everything went dark.


	4. Look, I'm running out of Chapter titles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Bucky talk more and we inch closer to a real plot.

Steve woke up with a moderate headache, a warm body, and a cold face. He pried his eyes open and saw only darkness. He knew he must have been out for hours. It wasn’t that late when Winter Soldier came back and…

Steve shot up, which only managed to make the headache jolt through his body and hit his stomach. Steve jumped out of what he realized was the bed, barely noticing the movement next to him, and ran to the bathroom. As he emptied the contents of his stomach he saw the light turn on and a shadow overtake the toilet. Steve spent a few more minutes hovering there before he was sure he would be fine. The shadow stayed put until Steve moved to get up. He pushed past the Soldier and neared the sink. He splashed some water in his mouth to get the bile out and soon saw a metal hand holding mouthwash near his face. Steve took some and a cup from the counter and began rinsing.

Finally, Steve felt better and turned around to look at the other man. It took him a minute to gain the composure to do so, letting someone watch you get knocked out in three hits will do that, and when he did he regretted it. His face looked anguished and once he gave Steve’s face a once over his eyes diverted to just over his shoulder. 

“This is my fault,” he mumbled. 

Steve shook his head lightly. “No, it’s theirs.”

“I failed,” he continued, ignoring Steve’s protests. “I failed my mission and you became harmed. Had I succeeded you would have been safe.”

“You can’t know that with these guys. They may have beaten me just to remind us who’s running this show.”

The larger man shook his head in disagreement but said no more. Steve pushed by and made his way to the couch. He felt his arm being grabbed and he felt himself being directed to the bed.

“You have sustained damage. You must be comfortable in order to rest and in order to heal you must rest.”

Steve sighed but didn’t put up a fight. He was still in too much pain to worry about chivalry. Steve made his way over to the bed and sat down on something cold. He will go to his grave swearing he did not yelp and jump up after this and Asset would go to his grave swearing he did.

“Your head was warm so I assumed you had a fever. I thought that would help.”

“Do you actually sound amused?” Steve shot back. He couldn’t find it in himself to feel any anger. “I think that goes against your whole robot thing.”

In the dark, Steve could somewhat see the Asset tilting his head to the right like a confused puppy. “I don’t think I’m a robot.”

With a sigh, Steve sat down again, carefully avoiding the ice pack. Across the room the other man did the same to the couch. “You don’t think you are or you know you’re not?”

“Well, robots don’t bleed and they are fully metal. I only have this.” He could barely make out him swinging his arm in the darkness. 

“You can’t be a robot, you bruise,” Steve added helpfully. The other man nodded from his side of the room.

“Exactly, but that’s not all. See, I have to get wiped and reprogrammed and you program robots. You’re not supposed to put computers on ice though and I get put on ice.”

Steve felt the shouted ‘what’ leave his lungs before he realized what was happening. His jaw was hanging open.

“Yes, you see I need to be kept frozen. If not I can’t help save the world. I won’t be useful. I need to help the cause.”

Steve put his fingers on his temples as his headache came back with an intensity. “You mean Hydra told you that you have to be frozen in order to save the world. How did they explain that?”

“Well,” the soldier paused. He grappled in silence for an excuse and found none. “It’s just, I have to wake up and save everyone. I wake up in a chair strapped to a machine and then I go into the freezer and then I rest and then I wake up and fight off the bad guys. The government is bad, Steve.”

Steve felt his stomach tighten and he was secretly glad he’d emptied it out earlier. It took a pretty warped person to try and convince someone that being frozen was somehow helping him be a good guy. Also, what was this chair he was talking about? Steve weighed his options before imploring further.

“What do you mean you wake up in a chair? What did you do before the chair?”

The man seemed frozen and Steve wished there was some sort of bedside lamp or anything he could turn on to help him read his expression. Instead, everything but the bathroom light seemed set to a timer. 

“I just… I wake up in the chair. Every time. Every time there is nothing before the chair.” 

He stuttered through the last sentence and Steve found himself standing again. He made his way slowly over and placed a hand on the Soldier’s shoulder. His head shot up. 

“Why is there nothing before the chair but the chair keeps happening?”

Steve sat next to him, close but not touching except for the hand on his shoulder. “How many times do you remember waking up in the chair?”

“Once,” he said firmly. “But… I know there were more times. I don’t remember more times, I just know there were.”

Steve felt pieces of a puzzle falling into place, but they all seemed too farfetched. The only way he could forget waking up in a chair but somehow know it happened before would probably be some sort of memory eraser. Mind wiping was something straight out of science fiction, but Steve also is friends with an internationally known spy and a super soldier from the forties so it wasn’t out of his realm of possibility.

Steve felt himself starting to hyperventilate a little bit but caught himself when he realized the man next to him was doing the same thing. Steve moved his hand to remind The Soldier he was there and help ground him again. 

“Hey,” Steve whispered. Startling a man this dangerous seemed like a bad idea. “Look, I need you to do something for me, okay? Just remain calm.” 

The other man seemed to hear him and slowly regained composure. Steve could still imagine his eyes darting around as they always seemed to do.

“I need to ask them,“ The Soldier began. 

“No,” the blonde cut off. “If you ask them they might put you back in the chair. I don’t think we want that. We need to pretend you don’t remember anything, okay?”

He seemed to flinch when the chair was mentioned but Steve felt his shoulders slowly relax. “You are right. I do not know what they would do if I questioned them. Pierce is already very upset about earlier.”

Steve nodded and stood again to find his way back under the covers on the bed. He felt his body and eyes growing heavy again even though his mind raced with new information. 

“Do you know why they thought punishing me would work?” Steve hadn’t even realized he was asking the question before it popped out of his mouth. He turned his head over to look at the couch. He couldn’t make out the form of the other man and the silence made his ears ring. He was starting to think Asset had fallen asleep before he heard a mumbled reply.

“They knew I had befriended you. They found the picture of you and my target in my pocket.” Steve felt his skin go cold when he realized that ‘my target’ must have been Sam. So the missing photo had been in his pocket. Great. “We are friends, right?”

This knocked him out of his daze, “Huh?”

“You’re the only one who’s always nice to me. That’s because we’re friends?”

Pain filled Steve’s chest. It wasn’t pity for the other man, but more of a rough sympathy. “Yeah, I guess we are.”

The last couple days played out in Steve’s mind. While it may seem like Winter Soldier was controlling him, he was probably trying to stop Pierce from doing… well exactly what he did. He never banned him from trying to entertain himself with books and the copy he was reading was sitting sideways on the bookshelf, open to presumably whatever page Steve left off on. 

He didn’t forget that this man was also a monster, but maybe that wasn’t his fault. Steve wished he could make a judgement call now but his mind couldn’t help but to think about how he couldn’t remember something as simple as sitting in a chair. 

“How many people have you killed?” Steve knew he was pushing the envelope but that was kind of his thing. The question hung in the air for minutes before he heard a peep from the other side of the room.

“I don’t know. A lot, I think. One earlier, I know that. He wasn’t a good guy though, he was working for the U.S. government.”

“Did you ever think maybe these guys you’re working for are the bad guys?”

“I think I do,” Asset answered. “Sometimes. I do now. Can you remember things past a few days ago?”

The familiar ache returned to Steve’s chest. “Yeah. Everyone can.”

There was a whispered noise Steve thought sounded like an ‘okay’ before silence overtook and Steve replayed the night’s events.

 

Steve was woken again by the sound of muffled banging. The door to the gym is open again and a whomping sound is coming down the small hallway. The grumbling in his stomach stops him from going back to bed. He slowly makes his way to a standing position and heads over to the opening to see when food could be made since he had been too unconscious to eat the night before.

‘Well,’ Steve thought. ‘This could almost be cute if he wasn’t training to kill my new friend.’

When he entered the room he realized the noise wasn’t the sound of the soldier punching a bag, but instead a mechanical padded device with six rotating arms that he was trying to avoid. He stayed nearly in place, gracefully dodging some blows while blocking others. A table set up with knives and guns sat untouched while a shield and sword lay against it. The shield looked similar to Sam’s vibranium one but was plain gray and most likely made from steel. Steve watched the show in amazement. Sure, he’d seen some footage of Cap fighting him but it was from a distance and blurry. Up close it was like watching a ballet. 

Seconds later he heard a mechanical whirring noise and Steve looked left to see another mechanism coming for him. Steve dived over towards the Soldier who was thoroughly wrapped up with his own machine. He grabbed for the first thing he could reach while ducking under a high spinning arm. Steve pulled his arm back, shield in hand, and blocked two of the arms from hitting him from both sides. A third arm knocked the shield loose and a fourth arm slammed into his shoulder, throwing him to the side. 

Grunting, Steve managed to right himself enough to block to more blows with the shield that he managed to grab hold of. Another hit to his side caused him to stumble and the bot simply spun on. Steve realized that this thing wasn’t slowing down and there wasn’t many more hits he could take. Switching the shield in his arms he landed a blow right down on one of the arms. It bent downwards but kept doing its job. Another blow nearly took one of the arms clean off but before he could react a third arm slammed Steve in his shoulder, sending him toppling.

Steve spun around to face the thing again when a blur shot past and a shiny arm went straight through the center of the device, ripping out the internal hardware. Steve let his eyes meet the Asset’s who at first looked enraged but slowly his face melted into amusement.

“I had it on the ropes,” Steve panted. He felt his face flush but his breathing was fairly normal, if ragged. 

“Sure you did,” he replied, offering his human hand. Steve pulled himself up and sat the shield back where it belonged. Steve pushed the imaginary dust off of himself and turned around to notice the larger man was still giving him an odd look. 

“I’m fine,” Steve said, even if his ribs and shoulder protested a little bit. “I feel a lot less roughed up than yesterday.” 

At that the soldier’s face feel and his shoulder’s hunched. Steve couldn’t help but notice how much more human he seemed after this much exposure. He went from a cold, scared robot to a feeling, semi-talkative person in a matter of days. Steve wondered what he was like before all this started happening. Maybe this has been happening his whole life. Steve didn’t know and he knew the victim of Hydra didn’t know either.

Steve felt his stomach grumble and his hands shot down to quiet it. Winter Soldier straightened up again and gave him an amused look.

“I came in here to ask about food,” Steve offered. “I know how much you like your schedules.”

He rolled his eyes. “Let’s eat. You earned it.”

 

After filling up and allowing Steve an extra meal, with ‘my handler is making it seem like I won’t be here long’ as an excuse, they sat quietly next to each other on the couch reading. Steve tried to concentrate on the book which, as he predicted, was left open to his page. It was impossible. The soldier was reading a book in what Steve thought to be Russian. There was a space ship on the front and a red planet in the background. The other man seemed fully engrossed in the novel and ignored Steve’s sideways glances. 

‘He really is attractive,’ Steve thought. Maybe if he wasn’t a possibly asexual killing machine and Steve had just ran into him in a coffee shop meet-cute this could have worked. Of course, Steve had zero luck with people of any gender, regardless of how many ‘bisexuals are so greedy, they get everyone’ jokes were thrown his way.

Steve couldn’t see much of the metal arm from here besides his hand. He had tried not to stare, which was REALLY hard, because he didn’t want him to become angry and about forty percent of his last few days was survival mode.

He heard the sound of the metal door beginning to open and Steve shot to the kitchenette with his book. Maybe if he could downplay whatever weird friendship they struck up no one would get hit. Steve really didn’t feel like getting hit again.

This time only Rumlow entered and, despite a new cut on his lip, was all smiles. Steve felt tension coursing through his veins but tried to ignore it. 

“Well, I think we’re about ready to put the plan into action,” Rumlow said to the room. His eyes turned to Steve and took on a more predatory gleam. “It seems your friends are very worried about you. It’s been a week now and no one knows where you went. You haven’t called. Your poor friend Sam’s started searching for you. Wouldn’t it be nice if he could find you?”

“Yeah,” Steve shot. “It’d be nice for him, not for you guys.”

“What?”

“That sounded more threatening in my head.”

Steve straightened his shoulders and spared a glance to the soldier. He was standing at attention, eyes fixed on Rumlow. It seemed to Steve that, despite Rumlow not being his handler, he outranked Asset and needed to be obeyed. Steve hoped enough of last night stuck about ‘remembering nothing.’

“I see our guy did a number on you. I know Mr. Pierce didn’t put those bruises on your shoulder.”

From his peripheral Steve could see Winter Soldier’s mouth start to open. Thinking fast, he spewed out the first thing that came to his mind.

“He didn’t like having a weakness. He said it distracted from Hydra’s cause. Besides, I’m disposable in this plot, right? I’ll probably be done with tomorrow.” Steve tried to give the soldier a scared look, like he was at the opposite end of the living space out of fear. It seemed to please Rumlow.

“Well, if you knew how he gets then you’d know he needs to let some aggression out once in a while.”

Steve gave and exaggerated gulp and inched further into the corner. Brock, deciding this was good enough for him turned his eyes back to the soldier.

“Asset, personal status report.” 

“All systems functioning,” he said mechanically. He was back to his robot voice that had worn away since Steve met him. “No residual pain from yesterday. Training continued as planned. Ready for action.”

Rumlow’s smile widened. “Pierce will be pleased to hear that. I’ll see if I can get you a little treat before this one.”

He turned and faced Steve. He barked out a small laugh and shook his head. 

“You look pretty mad, little guy. What’s wrong? Not ready for a rematch between our Winter Soldier here and your Captain America?” 

Steve at first thought he was making it sound like this would be a boxing match between rival men but he soon reassessed that he was saying it like he was getting ready for a dog fight. Sure, they supplied Asset with his basic needs, even gave him books to keep his mind sharp, but they had no major concerns about his wellbeing during the fight. Whether this was because they thought the soldier would win or because they didn’t care if he lost, Steve didn’t know. He was hoping to not find out.

Rumlow gave a small chuckle. “I guess we’ll find out tomorrow. Phase one will be put in place tonight. I’ll be back to collect you two after that. Get a good night’s rest.”

He exited the room, clearly leaving his back exposed as he went. He wasn’t afraid of either of them attacking him and Steve tucked that nugget of information away. Winter Soldier’s shoulders visibly deflated and he sat back down to look at his book. His face was furrowed in concentration and Steve was almost afraid to speak up.

He decided to just move over and sit down next to him. He opened his book up again and continued his pretend reading. The Asset didn’t move for a long time, not even bothering to turn a page, until he finally jumped up from his seat, startling Steve. Without making a sound he moved the book on the shelf and entered the gym where Steve heard the machines startup again.   
It was dinner time before he finally came out, drenched in sweat and clearly starving. He went to the fridge and began preparing the meals. Steve hadn’t heard a word from him since Brock left. He hadn’t even been acknowledged besides the second dinner being made. He couldn’t take much more of the silence without screaming.

When the soldier put the food in the oven, Steve heard the door open again. He quickly put some distance between himself and Asset as he had been hovering around hoping he would accidentally talk to him. Pierce strutted in with a covered plate in his hand. He gave Steve a friendly smile and nod like he would do back before Steve knew about the whole Hydra business. It took everything in him not to spit out some words at that, but he’d been slowly concocting a little plan in the back of his mind. If it didn’t go correctly, then either he or Sam were dead come tomorrow night. Possibly both.

Pierce sat the plate on the table as he met the soldier’s eyes. “I brought you a little gift before your big day tomorrow. Call it a morale booster. I’m sure the food’s getting a little repetitive. It’s an old family recipe.”

“This smells like it is not in my normal diet.”

Chills shot up Steve’s back. He was using the robot mannerisms again. It had been hours since he’d heard him talking like an actual person. He didn’t like it one bit. 

“You will eat it, Asset. You will like it.”

Alexander turned around again and strutted out the door just as quickly as he came. It seemed that, unlike Brock, he didn’t like to stay and chat if it wasn’t pertinent to the mission.

Steve removed the food that was cooking from the oven while Winter Soldier carefully removed the tin foil from the plate. It contained a large, delicious looking omelet that’s smell made Steve’s mouth water. Steve was just putting his food on a plate when he heard something crash against the wall and a loud yell. He whipped around, ready to defend himself, but the larger man was sitting in a curled up position on the floor against the wall. The plate was shattered near the door and the food was on the floor. His hands were cradling his head and he seemed to be slightly rocking himself.

“Hey,” Steve called softly from where he stood, deciding it might be safest to keep a little distance. “What’s wrong?”

“I remember eggs. This isn’t how you cook them. You boil them or you just cook them, you don’t put other stuff in it. We don’t have other stuff to put in it. I remember.”

Steve inched closer but still have him a wide breadth of space. “Look, it’s okay. We’ll clean this up and pretend it didn’t happen.”

“But it did happen, Steve,” he spat. “This is him taunting me. He thinks I don’t remember. He thinks he can just hook me up to the machine and make me forget. I’ve been out of ice too long. He isn’t old enough to know what I’m like when I’m out of ice too long.”

Steve crouched down to a less intimidating position. He leaned forward, two feet in front of the other man. He was within arm’s reach and aware of it, but there wasn’t exactly a place to hide in here anyway. Besides, he didn’t think he would be attacked. He hadn’t yet. Something about what he said stuck out. ‘He isn’t old enough.’ Pierce definitely had at least two decades on this guy. Anyone could tell just by looking. He couldn’t have been past his early thirties and Alexander was well into his fifties. Something wasn’t adding up to Steve.

“What do you mean he isn’t old enough?”

“I can’t be out of cryo too long or I become unstable.” The rocking had stopped but he was still clutching his head like he was in pain. Steve reached a hand out and then thought better of it. 

“You’re kind of like your own owner’s manual, huh?”

A snort. “I shouldn’t be. I’m not supposed to know his stuff.”

Steve felt like it was safer to touch him so he put a hand on his human arm. There was a slight flinch but no other movement. 

“Look, tomorrow this will all be over. Sam’ll rescue us and they won’t be able to put you in the chair again or in the freezer or whatever they do to you.”

“Do you even know the plan?” The skepticism in his voice relieved Steve. It was better than the tone he was using to amuse his handler. 

“Well no, but I’m pretty good at making stuff up on the fly.”

The Asset lifted his head and quirked his eyebrow in disbelief. 

“Look, you just have to trust me,” Steve said, standing. He held out his hand and Winter Soldier took it, hoisting himself up on his metal hand. They both knew there was no way Steve could actually lift him up, but he seemed to appreciate the sentiment.

“Now come on, we have to hurry up and eat and shower before lights out.”


End file.
